Locking device for desks and the like.



c. T. WESTMORELAND.

LOCKlNG DEVICE FOR DESKS AND THE LIKE. APPLICATION men MN. 3,191'3.

1,139,939. Patented May 18, 1915.

4 7. Z I Z6 3 I h] I I 7160 U} I 5- t l 8 TMfiwre/amj IE NORRlSFETERSCOU PHO70-LITHD-, WASHINGTON, D- C.

' um'rsn STATES 'r TnN'r 'orrion rs CRAWFORD THEODORE WESTMORELAND, OFHIGH PoINT, NORTH CAROLINA, AssIeN'on. TO MYRTLE DESK COMPANY, Aoonronn'rron or NORTH CAROLINA.

LocKINGn vIon FoanEsKs-nnD THE LIKE.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I CRAWFORD Trm'ononnWVEsTMoRELAND, a citlzen of the United States, residing at High Point,in the countyof Guilford and State of North Carolina, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvementsin Locking Devices for Desks and thelike, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in looking devices for. desks,cabinets or other. pieces of furniture having a plurality of drawers thelocking of which is controlled by some movable portion usually undercontrolof lock and key and common to all the drawers.

7 ing of the tiers of drawers by the roll top,

and in the case of a flat top desk to control the locking of a pluralityof the drawers from one drawer, which later is locked and unlocked by akey. It is a commonfault with devices of this character now generally inuse that the lockingmechanism for the sev 'eral drawers easily gets outof order, due in locking devices as are operated'by the roll top ofdesks must be capable of withstanding considerable rough treatment as.it were,

without getting out of order, owing to the common practice of sendingback the roll tops of such desks with considerable force in openingthem. The same thing applies perhaps to a lesser degree to desks of theflat top variety in which the closure of one drawer automatically looksa series ofother closed drawers, but in the latter case the controllingdrawer is not usually closed with the violence that is common l-Ilopening a desk of the roll top type."

The, object of this invention is to provide a locking device of theabovev character which shall possess the desirable qualities" stated,and which shall at the samestime be extremely simple in construction andsure in operation. i

In order to more fully describe'my said For example, in the case of rolltop desks it is common to control the lock invention, reference will behad tothe companylng drawings wherein:-

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented May 1 8, 1915'. Applicationfiled January s, 1912. S eria11io. 74 O, (l8 1.;. 1 1 if Figure 1,represents in vertical section a desk of the roll top type equippedwithone form of my said invention; Fig. 2, a top plan'vlew of the' saidlocking mechanism,

this portion of thedesk, further descrip;

tion 'of the construction of 1 this portionis not necessary here. as isalso well known, usually under control of a lock and key, and whenunlocked Such rolltops are, if

and. slid back usually operate jmechanism which unlocks the tierdrawers, such .as

drawers '2, 3 and 4.

-- The locking mechanism tom, respectively, to two brackets 7* and 7 pwhich I, provide 1n the present case, ;compri ses preferably'a woodenupright? made fast top and'botwhich are in turn made fast preferably 2screws to the back of the desk as shown, the said upright being in'therear of the tier of drawers, 2, 3 and 4; a series ofpreferably;

metal locking dogs 8, 9,.a'nd 10,pivoted::to one face of said upright; amovable member 11, preferably a wooden rod or bar,.tov

one face of which the tails of .aIl' the-ESaid dogs are pivotallysecured, and a spring'12 attached inthe case shown at one end to thestationary upright "7, and at the" movable member 11. I

,The heads ofthe several dogs arel g vided, respectively, with shoulders13, 14 and 15, adapted to-engage the innerside of the rear of the,drawers.

'Theup'pe'r end of the member l l is pro vided with an'extension or head16 which:

the other end to. y

loo!

passesupward through an opening 17in the flat t p alinernent with .thetravel of the roll top '5, and is adapted to be struck directly by therearof said roll top when'the latter is slid of the desk. This head isin backin the openposition. When the roll top thus strikes the head 16,the memberrll is sentdownward against the tension of i 60 showing partsof the desk broken away, and

member 11 will rise under the action of the spring 12 and will send allthe dogs into the locking position, as shown in Fig. 1. The upwardmovement of the member 11, and therefore the downward movement of theheads of the several dogs is limited by stops 18, 19 and 20, which thedogs are adapted to engage.

If all the drawers are closed at the time the dogs are sent into thelocking position, they will all be locked as shown. If, however, one ormore of the drawers is not in the closed position when the pressure onthe head 16 is released, any of the drawers may be locked by pushingthem in to the full closed position. Vhen this is done the rear end ofthe drawer engages its dog, the head of which yields upwardly againstthe action of spring 12 and permits the rear end of the drawer to passthe shoulder of the dog, after which the dog drops to the lockingposition with its shoulder on the inside of the rear of the drawer.

For the purpose of causing the rear end of the drawers on engagementwith the heads of the dogs to raise them as described, the heads of thesaid dogs are provided, respectively, with curved cam faces 21, 22 and23.

The mechanism herein shown and described is, as will be readily seen,extremely simple, and is particularly well adapted to stand the roughusage to which such parts are usually subjected, as pointed out in thegeneral introduction to this specification.

Anotherimportant advantage of my improved locking device is that theentire mechanism, including the attachment of the upright 7 to thebrackets 7 and 7 and the attachment of the member 11 to the locking dogswhich solely support and carry the same, may be assembled before it isput in the desk. Again the connection of the spring 12 from one of theupright members to the other, as shown, is a decided improvement overthe ordinary W ay of arrang- 1ng the springs of this class of lockingdevices. Also, the form of locking dog herein shown may be andpreferably is stamped out of plate or sheet metal which greatly reducesthe cost of manufacture. These dogs possess the further advantage thatthey will not split or break in operation as is the case with the woodenlocking members commonly in use.

It should be understood, however, that while I have herein shown myinvention as applied to desks only, it may equally as well be applied tocabinets, or other pieces of furniture having a series of drawers, thelocking of which is contr lled from some one movable part of the articleordinarily under lock and key, and in the claims I use the word desk ina generic sense to cover all such articles.

t will be further understood that modifications may be made in theconstruction of the locking mechanism itself without departing from thetrue spirit of my invention.

What I claim is:

A desk having a plurality of drawers and a roll top, in combination withan upright bar rigidly secured to the desk in the rear of said drawers,a plurality of locking dogs fulcrumed intermediate their ends upon saidbars, each dog being provided with a locking head adapted to engage withthe rear end of an individual drawer, an upright bar pivotally connectedto the tails of all said dogs and extending upward through an opening.in said desk in position to be struck directly upon its top by the rolltop of said desk, a spring connected to both said bars and forming ayielding connection between them against the resistance of wiich anyofthe dogs in the locking position may yield to receive and lock anindividual drawer, means on the first mentioned bar to limit themovement of said dogs by said spring, said bars, dogs, spring andlimiting means adapted to be assembled completely outside of the deskand inserted into an operative position therein thus assembled.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

CRAWFORD THEODORE WE STMQRELAND.

W itnesses:

L. I. ROCHELLE, E. S. RoorIELLn.

Copies of this patent may be obtainedfor five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents.

Washington, I). G.

